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René Auberjonois
|birth_place = New York City, New York, U.S. |death_date = |death_place = His home in Los Angeles, U.S. |occupation = Actor/Voice artist |yearsactive = 1962-present |series = MASH (film) |character = Father John Patrick Francis Mulcahy }} René Auberjonois played Father Mulcahy in the 1970 Robert Altman directed, Academy Award-winning M*A*S*H movie. Born in New York City on June 1, 1940, Rene is a seasoned veteran film, television, and theater actor, perhaps best known for, in addition to portraying Father Mulcahy in the original film version of M*A*S*H, Clayton Endicott III on the hit ABC-TV sitcom series Benson opposite Robert Guillaume (for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award), the alien Odo on the hit UPN series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and attorney Paul Lewiston on ABC-TVs Boston Legal. Rene also made a notable appearance as Chef Louis in The Little Mermaid (and singing "Les Poissons"). Early life and family background Auberjonois was born of a Swiss-French background; his father, Fernand Auberjonois (1910–2004), who was a Cold War-era foreign correspondent and Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer. His grandfather, also named René Auberjonois, was a Swiss post-Impressionist painter. His mother, Laure Louise Napoléone Eugénie Caroline Murat (1913-1986), a great-great granddaughter of Joachim Murat, the son of a farmer, one of Napoleon's loyal band awarded royal positions, in this instance the throne of Naples, despite his ardent republicanism; his wife was Caroline Bonaparte, sister of the Emperor Napoléon. His maternal grandmother, Hélène Macdonald Stallo (1820–1860), was an American, from Cincinnati, Ohio; his maternal grandfather's mother was a Russian noblewoman, Eudoxia Michailovna Somova (1830–1870), and his maternal grandfather's paternal grandmother, Caroline Georgina Fraser who was married to Prince Napoleon Lucien Charles Murat, was also an American, from Charleston, South Carolina. Auberjonois has a sister and a brother and also two half-sisters from his mother's first marriage.[http://www.postgazette.com/pg/04241/369197.stm Obituary: Fernand Auberjonois / Much admired foreign correspondent who lived a chronicle of 20th century, Postgazette.com 2004-08-28, accessed 2009-10-19.] His family moved to Paris after World War II, where at an early age he decided to become an actor. Early career and education After a few years in France, the family moved back to the U.S. and joined an artists' colony in Rockland County, New York, whose other residents included Burgess Meredith, John Houseman, and Helen Hayes. The environment confirmed Auberjonois' decision to act, and he made important contacts that were to advance his career. One of the most influential contacts Auberjonois made during this period was Houseman, who gave him his first job in the theater at sixteen years of age as an apprentice. They worked together again later, when Auberjonois taught under Houseman at the Juilliard School, and Auberjonois stated in a 1993 interview that Houseman was the person who had most influenced his career. The Auberjonois family also lived in London, where Auberjonois completed high school while studying theatre. To complete his education, Auberjonois attended and graduated from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University). References Category:Actors Category:MASH film cast